Washers for golf balls are in demand at country clubs and driving ranges where it is necessary to clean the balls that have become soiled in use so the encrusted dirt does not affect critical hitting, flight and rolling characteristics.
A number of golf ball washers have been disclosed in the patent literature in which a ball is passed along a helical path on the inside wall of a cylindrical changer where it is scrubbed by an array of brushes.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,099,027 to Illo is for a golf ball washer in which a cylindrical brush rotates in a cylindrical housing to scrub and move the ball from an entry end of the cylinder, along a helical ramp on the internal cylindrical wall, and out an exit end.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,038,186 to Davy is similar to the Illo invention with the addition that the balls roll by gravity down a chute into the bottom port of a vertical cylindrical housing containing a washing fluid (e.g., soapy water) and a rotating brush which scrubs the ball while forcing the ball to roll up a helical ramp to an upper exit ramp.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,011,619 to Michalak is for a washer comprising a cylindrical brush rotating within the chamber to scrub the ball while driving the ball through three compartments of a chamber, the last being a drying chamber.
Another style is exemplified by U.S. Pat. No. 4,701,968 to stolzman which is for a hand held washer in which the ball is inserted into a chamber and sprayed.
Yet another style resembles a "cake tin" configuration in which a generally disk-shaped brush array is rotated by a hand crank so as to urge the ball to follow a circular circumferential path inside a circular housing.
An example of this style of washer is U.S. Pat. No. 3,981,039 to Rumph which comprises a "cake tin" housing with paddles concentrically arranged within the housing, so that the array of paddles can be rotated, thereby forcing the ball to make scrubbing contact with the brush-lined inner wall of the circular housing.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,084,360 to Hasselroth discloses a washer having a "cake-tin"-shaped housing in which a brush lined disk is rotated by a hand crank to cause the ball to follow a circumferential path within the chamber.
Several drawbacks are inherent in the devices of the prior art. One drawback resides in recognizing that two surfaces are required to move the ball from an entrance, through a chamber and out an exit. One surface is part of a driving element (e.g., the surface of a rotating brush). The second surface is part of a guiding element (e.g., the helical ramp on the inside wall of a cylindrical chamber). In all of those disclosures, only one of these surfaces has a brush-like surface that can perform the scrubbing action in contact with the surface of the ball. The ball would therefore tend to skid on the "bare" surface thereby reducing the scrubbing action.
A second drawback is that each of those devices is constructed so that it cannot include all of the features that are desireable for the ball washer. For example, the Davy patent has an automatic feed capability but no drying capability, while the Michalak invention has a drying capability but is not constructed to incorporated automatic feed provision.
A third drawback is that there is no provision in devices of these patents for maintaining a constant level of water within the chamber in order to separate a washing area from a drying area.
A fourth drawback is that none of those devices have a satisfactory arrangement for drying the ball since even those disclosures that have a drying arrangement (e.g., Michalak) would soon accumulate enough water in the "drying" compartment to render the drying feature inoperative.